Challenging market sees Heijmans’ turnover drop

Dutch contractor Heijmans has reported a drop of 15% in turnover for the first nine months of 2013 compared to figures for the same period in 2012.

The builder’s order book dropped by €1.8 billion, while the number of homes sold fell from 846 for the first nine months of 2012 to 592 for 2013.

Bert van der Els, chairman of the Heijmans Executive Board, said, "Despite the drop in turnover, due in part to market conditions and fierce competition, we saw the result remain reasonably stable.”

Private buyers have emerged as the strongest market segment in residential, accounting for 334 sales versus 258 from investors, a flip on last year’s figures, which saw 265 private sales against 581 from investors.

“Although consumer confidence seems to be staging a limited recovery and we are seeing a modest increase in sales to private buyers, it is more difficult to complete transactions with both housing corporations and investors. Our order portfolio has decreased from last year,” said van der Els.

Heijmans’ non-residential performance fared better, with its target market segments of healthcare, education, data centres and laboratory markets remaining stable. The developer signed new projects for Schiphol Airport and the Catharina Hospital in Eindhoven.

For infrastructure, Heijmans’ order portfolio in roads and civil in the Netherlands showed a decline, while Belgian and German activities developed positively.

The firm hopes to deliver the renovated A2 motorway between Den Bosch and Eindhoven in the very near future, nine months earlier than planned.